An impatient smirk tugged at my lips. He was still staring at his paper.
“Because humans are corrupt, and rules are boring.”
“Speak for yourself, young man.”
With an exasperated sigh, I took out a few more Benjamins, boomeranging them across his desk. There was maybe a couple grand in total covering the surface before he finally looked up.
“What’s her name?”
“Rexroth. Luna Rexroth.”
“And your intentions?”
Entirely sinister.
“She’s my girlfriend,” I lied, unblinking. “I came to visit her from California. I want to surprise her in her room.”
I could see his gaze drifting to the row of spare keys under his counter. I didn’t dare breathe.
Do it, old man.
He didn’t budge. I took my wallet out and emptied it on his desk, the remainder of my cash raining in front of his eyes. I didn’t break eye contact.
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” he asked.
“Do you know her?”
“Yes.”
Casually, I unlocked my phone and threw it into his hands. My screensaver was a picture of me hugging her and kissing her cheek while she smiled into the camera. It was pretty obvious we knew each other and liked each other. He lifted his bushy, white eyebrows, examining the picture before handing my phone back to me.
Finally, he lowered himself to the wall of keys, searching for her name.
“I’ll need you to leave your ID here.”
I slid my driver’s license over the counter.
“No spending the night on the premises. No loitering. Straight to room 601. And if I see you getting anywhere near girls who are not her, I’m calling the cops.”
“I need one more favor,” I said.
He looked up at me, Luna’s room key dangling between his meaty fingers.
“Namely, one more set of keys…and a lemon.”
If you’re ready to fall
Please do it with me
Ten o’clock. Water tower. Is where I will be.
—Broken Knight
I’d found the note under my pillow—where I kept the book I was reading that week—like a tooth, forgotten by the tooth fairy. A wish. A promise. Knight knew I’d lift the pillow, because he knew me. Knew us.
Knight was at Boon.
At my college.
In my dorm.
He wanted me to meet him at the water tower.
He was away from his mother.
His friends.
His school.
Away from his Poppy.
That alone should’ve made me run into his arms. I’d made a promise to Rosie. But only after she wasn’t here anymore. I didn’t have to put my heart on the line just yet. I wanted my heart to be free a little longer.
Before I moved to Boon, I used to organize my time in accordance with Knight’s life. When it was football season, I’d crammed activities into my schedule to make time move faster. I’d volunteered more, taken longer bike rides, and read entire fantasy series back to back. When he was free, I dropped said activities in favor of being with him—even when he’d flirted with other girls, when the rumors about his lothario ways had cut me open and made me bleed green with jealousy.
When I’d left for Boon, I’d needed to fill my life with distractions. I had done so by mimicking life as I saw it worn by other people. To my surprise, I was a pretty good actress—a miserable one without Knight, but decent nonetheless.
I munched on the straw of my fruity cocktail, my legs folded as I sat in the nightclub next to April, Josh, and Ryan. I flipped my phone to watch for the time.
Ten minutes to ten.
I couldn’t make it in time even if I wanted to. Good.
The music pounded so loudly, it felt like it was coming from inside my head. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to remove the vision of Knight waiting for me on the top of the water tower, in the cold.
It felt a little redundant not to use real words with my friends, now that I spoke them to Knight, Edie, and Dad, but I was still thankful to have people in my life who liked the old me. This was where I belonged. With my new, genuine friends I’d made on my own, not because our parents were best friends.
I checked my phone again.
Eight to ten.
It took about twenty minutes to get to the water tower by foot. Probably ten with my bike, which I didn’t have with me. What was he doing here, anyway? There was only one way to find out, and I wasn’t dumb enough to risk crumbling in front of him and opening my legs again.